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<P class="title"><A NAME="HELPRARVersusZIP"></A>RAR versus ZIP<hr></P>


<P>WinRAR is able to create archives in two different formats: RAR and ZIP.
Here is a comparison of these formats:</P>

<h1><B>ZIP archives</B></h1>

<P>The main advantage of ZIP format is its popularity. For example,
most archives on Internet are ZIP archives. So if you are going to
send an archive to somebody, but you are not sure that your addressee
has WinRAR to extract the archive contents, it might be a good idea
to use the ZIP format. Though, you may also send a <A HREF="HELPArcSFX.htm">
self-extracting archive</A>. Such archives are slightly larger, but can be
extracted without external programs.</P>

<P>Another ZIP advantage is speed. ZIP archives are usually created
faster than RAR.</P>

<h1><b>RAR archives</b></h1>

<P>Typically RAR format provides better compression than ZIP, especially
in the <A HREF="HELPArcSolid.htm">solid mode</A>.
WinRAR <A HREF="HELPArcVolumes.htm">multi-volume</A> archives
in RAR format allow more functions like self-extracting volumes.</P>

<P>RAR format has also a few important features missing in ZIP, such as
the <A HREF="HELPArcRecovery.htm">recovery record</A> allowing to
reconstruct damaged data and <A HREF="HELPArcLocking.htm">locking</A>
important archives to prevent their accidental modification.</P>

<P>Both RAR and ZIP formats are able to handle files of practically
unlimited size (up to 8,589,934,591 GB).</P>

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